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PEEKSKILL, NY -- The city school district will hold another sports carnival on Saturday for city youth to coincide with homecoming.

The event will be held on Torpey Field from 9 a.m. to noon before the varsity football game

Peekskill Athletic Director and state champion basketball coach Lou Panzanaro said the carnivals are an opportunity to introduce children to new sports offered by the district before they get to the high school.

"The idea is that we want to build participation in our sports, to expose kids to the various sports that we have here when they're in the elementary and middle schools because some of our teams have low numbers and we wanted ro create some interest," Panzanaro explained.

Panzanaro said the high school has no golf team and the cross country team has too few male and female runners. The school's swim and soccer teams are still growing and in need of members.

Even baseball, one of the oldest and most popular American sports, has had a low turnout in Peekskill, he said.

"We have little league here but we don't have kids coming out," Panzanaro said. "The junior varsity team ended up with nine kids on the team."

The track team also needs to increse its numbers significantly, and there will be opportunities to try events at the carnival.

"We had 50 middle school kids sign up for the indoor track team," Panzanaro said. "We're thinking that if we can get them out to do the long jump and the high jump and a running event, now that they've had exposure and interest, maybe it will happen in reality."